Basketball Blues
by newraven
Summary: Bubbles is a genius at basketball, but her ability causes her to have a miserable day with seemingly everyone mad at her. And who would cheer her up? Boomer, of course. One-shot and companion story to "Green Thumb" and "Caught Red-handed".


I don't own Powerpuff Girls. If I did, I'd have to know how to draw.

* * *

"She shoots. She scores! The crowd goes wild!" Bubbles cheered herself on as she the ball landed in the net with a satisfying _swish_. This was Bubbles dirty little secret. Basketball. Yes, Bubbles was totally and utterly in love with the sport of basketball. Her sisters knew that she often played basketball, but they always dismissed it as child's play and training to improve hand-eye coordination. Buttercup and Blossom couldn't imagine their sweet little sister getting so caught up in the harsh world of competitive sports. Buttercup and Blossom offered to play with her at the beginning, but soon stopped to pursue their own time-consuming interests (quiz competitions and soccer).

Bubbles was now very (and I mean _extremely) _good—no great—at basketball. Her foul shots landed neatly in the hoop 95% of the time, and she couldn't remember the last time she missed a layup. This was due to her natural talent in sports and her hard work. Well, mostly her hard work. The hours of drilling and training and playing basketball and buckets of sweat she dripped paid off. Not that she was complaining, of course. Time always seemed to fly by when she was playing basketball.

The basketball court she usually practiced at was abandoned and in terrible condition when she first found it. After asking the whole family to help, the basketball court was now presentable, with a NBA standard length court and standard height hoops. There were bushes and trees growing around the fence that surrounded it, trimmed and watered by none other than Bubbles. She made friends with some local rabbits, birds, and foxes who had taken a liking to her little garden. Boomer liked her little garden as well. Not because it was nature and converting carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen. Not because the sight was beautiful, with the lush green leaves and beautiful sunsets. No, Boomer liked her garden for one reason and one reason only—it was a great spying place.

* * *

This was not the greatest day for Bubbles. In fact, you could even say that it was Bubbles most miserable day _ever_. It all began in gym class.

The scoreboard read 59-3. Bubble's team was winning big time. All thanks to Bubbles, of course. She was blocking Buttercup's shots expertly, and in turn stealing them and shooting. They just started their basketball unit, so no one else was very good at basketball, and Bubbles shot most of their team's points. Not even Buttercup could barely lay a finger on the ball. Of course, Bubbles team won. But Bubbles lost. It seemed that everyone was against her after winning.

**The opposing team was mad her. **No one likes being a loser. Some had even gone so far to start rumors that she used her powers.

**Her team was annoyed at her.** No one likes being left out. The ball barely ever left Bubble's hands or the net.

**Buttercup was avoiding her.** Buttercup was supposed to be the sporty one. The one who owned the courts and fields. And now her shy, innocent sister Bubbles was the one who was dominating P.E. Really, it's easy to see why Buttercup was angry.

**The coach was disappointed by her.** He made her stay after class to give her a lecture on sportsmanship and on being a team player.

**Her science teacher had embarrassed her.** Bubbles was late to class and had no excuse since she forgot to ask coach to write her a late slip. Her science teacher gave her yet another lecture, though this time in front of the whole class, and about tardiness and time management. The lecture ended up taking up the whole period. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if the teacher hadn't assigned them extra homework. They had to do the homework that the teacher had planned to assign for that day _and_ the classwork that was supposed to be done in class.

**Blossom kept shooting her dirty looks.** Blossom felt that Bubbles had wasted her whole science class. Wasting her time at home doing the extra homework and wasting her time at school listening to a lecture on time management. _Blossom_ was _never_ late to class.

_What next?_ Bubbles thought. _Professor suddenly driving to school to scold me on forgetting to turn off the lights when I leave a room?_

School finally ended. Thoroughly miserable, Bubbles climbed a tree and sat on the branches. She loved trees. She loved climbing them. She loved not having to use her powers to get to the very top. She loved the way the wind felt up there. And most of all, she loved the privacy. Bubbles refused to cry, and instead, decided to let her mind go blank and just sit there.

Boomer flew up onto the branch where she was, and just sat there without saying anything. Bubbles didn't mind the silence. Finally, Boomer started, "You know what type of people I hate?"

Bubbles just stared at him because of the sheer randomness of the question. She felt that the question was directed at her and in her mind she thought _people who give in too easily to self pity?,_ but shook her head anyway.

"I hate liars," Boomer said.

Bubbles was quick to defend herself, "I didn't lie!"

Boomer shook his head and waved a finger at her in a naughty way. "Yes you did. Every day. You lie to yourself. You are amazing at basketball, Bubbles. I know because I watch you sometimes when you play. You seem unwilling to admit how good you are. Maybe you don't even believe it yourself. And you also exaggerate people's reactions. I can name off ten people off the top of my head who are _not_ mad at you. And I can name a dozen more who are impressed by the way you played basketball today."

Bubbles smiled, comforted. Boomer held his hand out and continued, "Wanna be friends? I could play basketball with you. I would play basketball with you everyday."

Bubbles hesitated for a second before she shook his hand and said, "Deal."

Boomer wagged his finger again. "And no more lying to yourself, okay? Be completely honest." There was a thoughtful silence. "On second thought, don't lie to me either."

Bubbles giggled. She felt that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Well, if they were being completely honest here….

"Boomer. There's been something I wanted to tell you."

"Yeah? What is it? You know you can tell me anything."

"Boomer….." Bubbles trailed.

"What? Just say it," Boomer impatiently urged.

"Your layups suck."


End file.
